Finally, The Avengers I Always Needed

I really wanted this week's video MMO log for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn to show you my ascension from Lancer to Dragoon at level 30, but I fell short. That I'm bummed about it says a lot about how I feel about the game.

First off, let me just thank all of the nice folks who've reached out to me in game. Whether they've just wanted to say hello, suggest they might be a fan of my work, or just wanted to express lingering anger over my calling the re-launch a disaster, everyone I've spoken to has turned out to be incredibly nice. It's kind of like being at a Final Fantasy convention. We may have our differences, like mistakenly thinking Final Fantasy VII is better than IX, but in the end we're there because we love the property.

Or because we're working on a review. Or both.

But yes, I was really excited to show how far I'd come, and how much further I was hoping to take my suddenly-kitty boy character. Not only that, but my enthusiasm for exploring other avenues in the game, which is why, after two weeks of saying I wanted to play a caster, I went ahead and made one.

I know, I'm breaking immersion with my silly name. I prefer role-playing in an MMO, but I've grown tired of trying to find a truly dedicated group. I was spoiled by Funcom's Anarchy Online, where there were times it felt like entire servers were unified in their play-acting.

So we're two weeks in now. Around this time in 2010, I was completely sick of and frustrated with the original Final Fantasy XIV. Every time that game came close to delivering the experience I wanted, it fell flat on its face. A Realm Reborn consistently exceeds my expectations.

We'll probably do one more of these before the final review. That gives me nearly two weeks to try and experience some of the game's higher level content. Thank goodness there are no major console game releases between then and now.

If any one thing about The Last Jedi has been contentious -- actually, no, strike that, everything about The Last Jedi has been contentious, including its approach to space combat (the Holdo Manoeuvre, anyone?). But according to one fan and critic, Rian Johnson's epic actually makes space combat in the Star Wars universe more explicable, not less.